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A lot has happened the last couple of days. I went sailing yesterday on another little race boat with Pro French sailor Thiery from Sai Kung to Causeway Bay. Also, I've done some more research and will probably be changing up my route a little bit, on getting to Europe. Finally, i've been working on the magazine articles that i've been supposed to write for nearly a month now. |
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I went to several Embassies and General Consulates in Hong Kong today to gain information on obtaining visas for certain countries that I plan on cycling through. While the day wasn't overly productive, it wasn't a complete waste either. Here's how my day went and what my impressions of the embassies that I visited were:
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Monday November 17, 2008- 4 AM (can't sleep)
(This blog is more like a novel. This was my first time sailing since "the incident", so this is a LONG read.)
Two thumbs way up for the Hong Kong sailboat racing scene. I spent my weekend sailing on a 25 foot race boat named "Black Magic". Sailing again, and racing again was absolutely incredible. Just being back on the water did something special for my soul. Mix in a bunch of absolutely amazing and wonderful people, some very cool and exotic locations, a crazy party on Saturday night, and just a very good vibe for the whole weekend, and this all added up to be a truly special and memorable weekend, that I will never forget, as long as I live. The whole weekend, from start to finish was truly enjoyable. I am very very happy right now.
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I went riding again on Tuesday. I went back to the same spot that I went on Saturday, but this time I rode the whole trail, as well as the ridge line trail at the top of the mountain. I filmed a lot of it and took more pictures. There is a video on the front page; "The Dragon Back", as well as a bunch of pictures that will be posted up soon. Aside from riding, (which is REALLY sketch here in H.K. traffic), I have been continuing to see more of Hong Kong, while trying to write and get ready for my trip. This entry will be more about Hong Kong, and less about bicycles.
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Training Day #1 (Another wordy entry, kinda long)
I spent almost all day on my bike. I rode all over Hong Kong Island, seeing many places I hadn't seen, found the island's only mountain bike trail, crashed once, relaxed on the beach, took some pictures, raced a Chinese guy, and more. It was awesome.
I packed my camelback this morning with some cycling necessities, a couple PBJ sandwiches, sandals, camera, stuff like that. At 12:40pm, I left my flat and rolled down Hennessey Road, hung a left at Percival Street (still within 1 kilometer of the crib), and quickly got lost. Damnit. Busting out my trusty map from 7-11 (did I ever mention there's a 7-11 on EVERY block here?), I tried to figure out which one of 5 streets at the intersection I should get on. I took a guess and it ended up being wrong. This set the tone for my entire day. (If you've never been here, Hong Kong is so difficult to navigate around. If you are one of the two main streets that run across the north side of the island, it's quite easy, but aside from that, it's impossible.) I quickly figured out i was going the wrong way, so I figured out the right way and made it to Happy Valley, where I got lost for another 5 or 10 minutes.
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(This is a long read because it was my first ride on my new bike!)
I went to the bike shop in Cheung Sha Wan again today. Instead of the usual subway ride back to the crib, I took my first ride on my new bike! First impressions of the bike were very good, albeit first impressions of riding a bicycle in Hong Kong Friday afternoon traffic were not quite as positive....
First off, let me get this off my chest. Hong Kong cab drivers are assholes to cyclists. The bus drivers are just as bad. They have absolutely no respect for bicycles, whatsoever. For some reason, they think that by making aggressive passes on me, as if we were racing, they might get to their next destination 4 seconds faster. You would think that because their profession revolves around sitting in H.K. traffic, they would have realized by now that it doesn't matter how fast they drive, they will still get there at the same time, because of all of the red lights and traffic. I have noticed over the past two weeks that there are no bicycles being ridden in traffic here, and today I figured out why; because of all of the jerks driving cabs and double decker buses having no regard at all for bikes. Hong Kong traffic: FAIL.
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I bought the mountain bike that I intend to ride from Hong Kong to Spain on, this evening. At first I was going to try to get sponsored by a bike company, and there were some that were showing interest, but no one was jumping at me, which is understandable given the far fetched nature of my journey and the state of this economy. Also, I really didn't want to wait a month on someone to decide whether or not to sponsor me, and then wait on the bike to get here, so I just bought one. I went to all of the bike shops in Hong Kong, looked through all of the classifieds, and ended up settling on a new 2009 Cannondale F3 hard tail mountain bike.
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